CONCORD, New Hampshire – In a stunning blow to the black market pharmaceutical trade, Centera Bioscience, d/b/a Nootropics Depot, and its CEO, Paul Eftang, 38, have been sentenced for distributing unapproved drugs, including tianeptine, into interstate commerce.
According to U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young, Centera and Eftang pleaded guilty to introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. U.S. Magistrate Judge Talesha Saint-Marc handed down a sentence of three years of probation to the company and one year of probation to Eftang.
The defendants have also paid a staggering $2.4 million forfeiture and surrendered all drugs seized by the FDA and Customs and Border Protection. This is a significant victory for law enforcement agencies, which have been working tirelessly to combat the rise of unapproved drugs in the United States.
Tianeptine, an unapproved drug in the United States, was one of the key targets of the investigation. Centera and Eftang imported approximately $7.4 million worth of raw material for this and other unapproved drugs from China between April 2017 and September 2021. The company earned approximately $35 million from selling these drugs during the same time period.
During this investigation, Customs detained several shipments of adrafinil and racetams addressed to Centera Bioscience or one of its subsidiaries. These shipments included 20 barrels of phenibut hydrochloride from Shanghai Norky Pharmaceutical, 40 barrels of piracetam from Shanghai Soyoung Biotechnology, and 20 barrels of phenibut hydrochloride from Qingdao Sincess.
The company’s Strategic Director, Paul Sheard, represented to Customs that the shipments were supposed to be used for laboratory analysis and research only, and were not intended for human consumption. The customs paperwork also incorrectly labeled the imports.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations and U.S. Postal Inspection Service led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander S. Chen and Geoffrey W.R. Ward, and FDA Special Counsel Sarah Hawkins prosecuted the case.
This case serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of unapproved drugs and the importance of law enforcement agencies working together to combat these threats. The public should be aware that unapproved drugs can contain unknown ingredients and are manufactured under unknown conditions, posing a serious health risk to those who buy and use them.
Key Facts
- State: New Hampshire
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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